


Stepping stones

by pacccii



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, basically it, rating because of swearing, will add more tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 16:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8020522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pacccii/pseuds/pacccii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jihoon is a college student who finds his life at an 'okay' status when a ray of sunshine enters his life to make his daily life a little bit better. But it's not the easiest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

You’d want to say that all it took was one message, but then you’d be lying. It took many messages before Jihoon started to appreciate the daily messages he recieved. It had not been his own idea, it had actually been Seungcheol who had made Jihoon join that stupid Secret Santa shit on tumblr.

‘ _Maybe this’ll make you a little less grumpy’_ he had said with a smirk when Jihoon realised what his friend had done while he had been to get coffee from the cafeteria of their university. Jihoon had then rolled his chair over to Seungcheol and punched his arm hard enough to leave a bruise.

Jihoon still didn’t want to admit it but he liked the sweet and thoughtful messages he started recieving from the 1st of December. They were a big contrast to his own personality and blog. Jihoon’s own blog was mostly pictures in black and white and quotes that Seungcheol and Junhui called ‘depressing’. At least Jihoon had Wonwoo on his side in this argument.

Anonymous said to you:

_I hope your day is the best and that your weekend is even better!_

Jihoon couldn’t help but shake his head while a small smile rested on his face. “How can something get better than the best?” he mumbled to himself as he clicked himself back to his dashboard. He felt like he should answer the message but for now he just posted it, not really knowing how to answer the message he just recieved without sounding like a complete a-hole.

Soon enough, the closer it got to Christmas, the more Jihoon started appreciating the messages and he even managed to get himself to answer some of the messages when his anon asked him a question. It was a few days before Christmas and Jihoon finally admitted to himself that he wished that he could keep talking to his little anon. There was something freeing about talking to someone you don’t know. He had started taking a liking to the daily messages back and forth and he was even looking forward to them.

The day before Christmas Jihoon was sitting at his own designated recording room at his school, he was in the middle of trying to finish up his assignments so that he could rest over Christmas and just relax. Preferably by hot baths, a lot of sleep and alcohol.

Jihoon pushed his hand through his raven black hair and let out a groan before resting his forehead against the table. He couldn’t get the beats to match the way he wanted and eveyrthing just felt and sounded horrible. He clicked save, a few extra times just because, before deciding to take a break and he leaned back in his chair. Clicking himself into tumblr he noticed the small number one by his inbox and clicked it.

Anonymous said to you:

_It’s close to Christmas and it’s time to relax soon! I know you can get yourself through these last few days, just think about the things you can do once you’re free!_

Jihoon smiled and then he nodded to himself. He convinced himself that it would be worth the struggle before opening his editing program again and continuing the war against his work.

Christmas eve Jihoon spent wearing a God damned ugly Christmas sweater that his mom had bought him. It was slightly too big and had the worst picture of reindeers pulling Santa’s sled and there were even tiny LED lamps that were blinking obnoxiously. He wasn’t actually going to spend time with his parents until later in the evening, so at the moment he was sitting at a café in central Busan with Wonwoo.

Wonwoo was sat in the armchair across from him, he wore a burugundy colored sweater instead of his usual black. “It’s Christmas” was all he had said when he had seen Jihoon’s raised brow when he removed his jacket. He still wore his ripped black jeans and white sneakers despite the cold winter weather and on his nose his round, silverframed glasses rested and he was looking at something on his phone.

Jihoon was sat in his own armchair, his legs were swung over the armrest while his back rested against the other. Leaning against his thigh was his notebook and in on ear his headphone was plugged in while he listened to the music he had made a few days ago and tried to come up with lyrics.

“You look fucking ridiculous in that sweater. You look like a gremlin” Wonwoo said and Jihoon’s only response was to raise his hand towards his friend to show off his favourite finger, the middle one, to him. Wonwoo couldn’t help but laugh at the reaction before it was quiet between them again.

“Would you mind helping me out with this song? I need a rap part and I’d want it to be you” Jihoon asked Wonwoo after a while. Wonwoo looked up from his phone where he was finishing up his new post on instagram.

“Seungcheol raps too. Why don’t you ask him?” Wonwoo asked while he pressed the post button on his app.

“Because your voice and feel fits this song better” Jihoon said and continued writing into his notebook. He glanced over at Wonwoo who was again staring down at his phone.

“Alright, I can try” Wonwoo agreed and Jihoon turned back to his music. A few minutes later they put their things back and pulled on their coats before going out.

“Come over on Thursday and we can record your part” Jihoon said and Wonwoo nodded from under the bundle that was a scarf. They bid each other goodbye before parting at the corner. Jihoon fished his phone out of his pocket and furrowed his brows at the new Instagram notification.

_wnwoo has tagged you in a photo_

Jihoon opened his Instagram and stopped in his tracks. Wonwoo had taken a snapshot of him with his middlefinger up towards the camera.

**_wnwoo_** _The Gremlin. More like a Grinch_

Jihoon spun around and his friend was still within the next block. “You bitch!” Jihoon yelled after him but was only met by laughter once again. A little smirk made its way onto Jihoon’s face before he turned back to head to his parents house.

~

That evening Jihoon recieved the last messages that would be from his Secret Santa. On Christmas Day his anon would reveal themselves and then it’d be up to them if they wanted to continue talking.

Jihoon was laying in his old bed in his room at his parents house when he was scrolling through tumblr on his phone a few more times before he was going to sleep when he went back to his inbox.

Anon asked you: _  
I hope you had a nice Christmas Eve and that you got to spend it with the people you love. Tomorrow I will reveal myself to you and I am actually looking forward to it a bit! _

Jihoon smiled gently before closing the screen lock on his phone and putting it on his bedside table. He turned a few times in his bed, effectively rolling himself more snugly into his duvet at the same time, before settling on his right side and he quickly fell asleep.

~

It wasn’t until when Jihoon was back at his studio apartment the following evening when he checked his tumblr and noticed that he had recieved the message he was waiting for, not that he would admit it.

From ssoon1010 said to you:

_Merry Christmas! I hope you celebrated Christmas well and that you got to eat a lot of good food. I am your secret santa and I’ve really enjoyed writing to you. I hope we can continue chatting! :)_

Jihoon squinted at the profile picture, trying to figure out if the profile picture could actually be the person who owned the blog or if it was some random picture. His curiosity got the best of his clicked onto the blog.

ssoon1010 was the polar opposite of Jihoon. His blog was filled with colorful pictures and videos and Jihoon recognised the people who were reappearing throughout his scrolling as the famous pop group SHINee. It was quite obvious that this person was running a fandom blog.

Jihoon kept scrolling through the blog and soon enough he was way too far back. He clicked the small ‘follow’ button on the top of the blog before going back to his messages. He decided to answer the message.

_Merry Christmas to you too. I spent Chsitmas with my parnets so good food was a garuantee. Thank you for writing to me even if I barely answered any of your messages. I would like to continue chatting with you._

And that was the start of his online friendship with ssoon1010.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a slightly shorter chapter. soonyoung and jihoon are dicks to eachother. at least that's what jihoon would call it.

Jihoon and ssoon1010, who was named Soonyoung, kept talking way after Christmas and Jihoon learned that they were both the same age but Soonyoung was already working as a choreographer. And studying human development at the same time. 

What Jihoon didn’t realise was the Soonyoung was bringing happiness into his life. It wasn’t that Jihoon wasn’t happy before, he just felt like his life was okay, nothing special and he had never felt that he had to show happiness all the time. It was Wonwoo who noticed it first that whenever Jihoon’s phone would light up with a notification and Jihoon opened to read the message his face would soften and a smile would appear on his lips.

A few weeks later and the two had added eachother on snapchat. Jihoon didn’t use the app much in reality but he was now recieving at least five snaps a day from Soonyoung, who was located in Seoul. Jihoon would only snap back a handful of times but those were almost never of himself, only sometimes when he felt that he could take a selfie in his own time with no one around. 

Jihoon knew what Soonyoung looked like. His hair was bleached light blond that he often accessorised with a headband and sometimes he even put it up in a apple hairstyle. He was actually very cute if Jihoon had to admit it. And one time when he had opened a snap from Soonyoung while at his recording studio with Seungcheol the other had let out a low whistle when Soonyoung’s excited face had appeared in the snapchat video. 

“That’s a cutie.” he had managed to say before being kicked in the shin by Jihoon. 

One day Jihoon didn’t really realise what was so strange until he was sitting on his bed in his room after a shower. 

Soonyoung hadn’t contacted him once throughtout the day. 

~

Jihoon didn’t message Soonyoung that day. Maybe Soonyoung had been busy. And forgotten about him… Jihoon had no right to feel like Soonyoung had to contact him and Jihoon had no right to even worry about Soonyoung. But he still did. 

It took three days before Jihoon sent a text to Soonyoung. A simple  _ ‘Hi, what’s up?’ _ before putting down his phone beside himself on the table. He tried to concentrate on the music he was trying to produce but he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander to his phone, waiting for that respons back from Soonyoung. 

But it never came. 

Jihoon ended up leaving the studio early that day and laid in his bed for a long while before sleep eventually came to him. 

It took a few more days before Jihoon came to the conclusion that Soonyoung wasn’t going to answer him. He had sent a few additional messages to his friend but hadn’t recieved any responses. Five days after Jihoon had last heard from Soonyoung he stopped texting him. And it took another four days before he stopped looking at his phone and waiting for messages from Soonyoung. 

Wonwoo noticed how Jihoon, who earlier that week had been smiling a lot and actually coming along for dinners and just hangouts once again started holing himself up in his studio booth and he also saw how much Jihoon would touch his phone and checking it. Something was wrong. 

But Wonwoo didn’t press. If there was something wrong that Jihoon wanted to talk with him about, then he would. 

~

It wasn’t until a complete 14 days of Soonyoung’s absence that Jihoon happened to look at his phone during his session in his studio. He had taken to a habit of turning his phone on silent and storing it in his jacket pocket, all to stop himself from constantly checking it. 

He was pulling on his jeansjacket when he fished the phone out of his pocket and was met by a bombardment of messages. Unlocking his screen Jihoon noticed that there were 7 waiting messages from Soonyoung. He bit his bottomlip before opening them and he turned off the lights in the studio and left school to head to his apartment before reading the messages. 

_ 8.34 ‘OMG I’M SO SORRY JIHOON. I HAD TO HEAD TO JAPAN AND MY STUPID ASS FORGOT MY PHONE AT HOME’ _

_ 8.36 ‘I DIDN’T NOTICE IT WAS GONE UNTIL I WAS ON THE PLANE BC I WAS IN SUCH A HURRY IN THE MORNING’ _

_ 8.36 ‘I SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU’ _

_ 9.01 ‘but it was a sudden job oppurtunity i got the same morning so i barely had time to pack my stuf’ _

_ 9.23 ‘and i really wanted to snap you from japan’ _

_ 10.14 ‘ugh i am such a fail’ _

_ 11.45 ‘pls answer me’ _

Jihoon looked at the time, noticing that it was already past midnight and he wondered if Soonyoung was asleep yet. He probably was. And he didn’t deserve Jihoon’s attention anymore. 

_ 12.06 ‘YOU CAN’T IGNORE ME ANYMORE. I KNOW YOU’VE READ MY MESSAGES!’ _

Jihoon couldn’t stop the small giggle escaping from his lips and he felt a bit happier now that Soonyoung was back and he was messaging him again. But Jihoon wouldn’t let him off that fast, so he ignored the messages. 

_ 12.14 ‘you know this ignoring me thing is getting a bit over the top.’ _

_ 12.17 ‘are you seriously going to ignore me?’ _

_ 12.26 ‘PLS DON’T IGNORE ME. I KNOW YOU NEED ME IN YOUR LIFE. AND I NEED YOU IN MINE’ _

_ 12.32 ‘i’m sorry i basically and unintentionally ignored you for two weeks. i didn’t mean it. i really really didn’t mean it.’ _

Jihoon shook his head as he continued walking down the streets of Busan towards his apartment. His phone pinged again but this time he knew it was something else besides a message and he looked to find a snap from Soonyoung. 

When opening the snap he was met by a video from Soonyoung. He was using that ugly crying filter while he loudly apologised to Jihoon, asking him to forgive him. 

Jihoon had to stop in his tracks, close his eyes and let out a sigh at how ridiculous Soonyoung was being. He gave up at trying to ignore Soonyoung and took a quick snap of the street he was walking down. 

‘ _ you’re an idiot _ ’ 

The rest of the night and until he went to bed Jihoon had a stupid smile playing on his lips and he was once again feeling that happy stream of something run through his veins when Soonyoung and he continued messaging throughout the late hours. 

Jihoon knew he’d hate himself for going to bed at 4 when he had an 8 am class the same morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still no idea how long this will be but i have the whole plotline done for myself. it's been a long while since i wrote something that was multiple chapters long. hope this was good enough. haven't proofread it but will do that later today.


	3. First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soonyoung messages Jihoon that he is coming down to Busan. Jihoon is a dick and doesn't respond. Until Soonyoung's last day working in Busan.

After their whole no-texting-because-soonyoung-forgot-his-phone-in-korea incident it took a while before everything went back to how it was before. Soonyoung did his best to text Jihoon and Jihoon gave it some effort. It was almost a month later, a monday early on in april, when Soonyoung would leave Jihoon shocked. 

_ 16.23 ‘i’m coming down to busan on wednesday. we should meetup!’ _

Jihoon happened to look at his phone during his and Wonwoo’s traditional music lecture and Wonwoo looked over at Jihoon when he heard his keyboard tapping stop. Jihoon was sat in his seat, frozen and eyes wide. He leaned over to his friend and read the text message before he started hitting Jihoon’s arm excitedly, he thanked the gods that they were seated in the back of the hall where their lecturer wouldn’t see them that well. 

“He’s coming to Busan!” Wonwoo whispered excitedly. He was excited for Jihoon because finally both he and Jihoon would be able to meet the person who made Jihoon happy. Jihoon had just enough time to turn to Wonwoo when he recieved another message from Soonyoung. 

_ 16.29 ‘well i’m working wed - fri but i am thinking of staying in busan until sunday. maybe we could hang on saturday?’ _

Wonwoo squirmed happily in his seat but Jihoon could only lock his screen and put his phone back down on the table. Wonwoo’s smile slowly dissappeared and he looked at his friend whose cheeks were blushing but he had gone back to writing on his computer. 

“You’re not going to answer him?” Wonwoo asked, but Jihoon ignored him. Wonwoo leaned back in his seat and scowled. “You’re a shitty person, you know that?” Jihoon still wouldn’t give him the time of the day and Wonwoo sighed before turning back to the lecture. 

When they left the lecture Wonwoo followed Jihoon. “Are you going to answer Soonyoung or what?” Wonwoo asked and Jihoon looked over at his friend with a frown while they walked up the stairs. 

“What does that have to do with you?” he spat and Wonwoo rolled his eyes. 

“Nothing, but-”

“Exactly. Nothing” Jihoon snapped before opening the door to his studio. It wasn’t really his but everyone knew that he used that room and so no one else would ever occupy it. “And if you’d be kind as you usually are, I have a few things to finish up. If you want to help then you can come in and do that.” he said and went inside. The door closed and Wonwoo let out a groan, running his hands over his face before following his friend into the room. 

~

Jihoon didn’t respond to Soonyoung. Soonyoung had sent him a few additional texts throughout the days. 

_ tuesday 7.34 pm. ‘i’m arriving at 8 am tomorrow. if you were interested.’ _

_ tuesday 8.56 pm ‘i’ll be staying at Toyoko Inn. and working at just dance academy.’ _

_ wednesday 11.58 pm ‘we are having a dance performance on friday if you want to come’ _

_ thursday 6.48 am. ‘i don’t know what i did but if you don’t want to meet up we don’t have too’ _

_ friday 12.34 am ‘pls don’t ignore me again jihoon’ _

Jihoon looked at his phone and he glanced up at his darkhaired friend who has been all but glaring at him the whole day since he discovered that Jihoon still hadn’t responded to Soonyoung’s messages. And he had even gone to the lengths of telling his friends who had told him multiple times througout the day to answer Soonyoung. 

It was already past 8 in the evening and Jihoon was sitting at a bar with Wonwoo while his phoone was in his hands and he was trying to respond to Soonyoung. 

“What do I say?” Jihoon asked and Jihoon put down his glass of beer and looked at his friend. 

“Well either you start by telling him that you’re sorry for ignoring him and admitting that you’re a coward.” Wonwoo started and was met by a glare from Jihoon. “Or you can just tell him you’d want to meet him tomorrow” 

Jihoon sighed and drank a little bit more from his beer. 

_ ‘when can you meet up tomorrow?’ _

~

Jihoon had recieved an answer from Soonyoung so fast that he wondered if the other had some type of super phone company. So now, at 10 am, Jihoon was standing outside Toyoko Inn by Busan station 2. His hands were stuffed into his jeans pockets and despite the warm april weather he wore a black sweater over his t-shirt. 

He kicked the ground when out of the corner of his eye he saw someone exiting the building and he recignised the person as Soonyoungfrom the snapchats he recieved from him. The boy who was walking down the steps was wearing a pair of black joggers and a t-shirt. On his back he had a large backpack and in his hand was his phone. He looked around the street before his eyes stopped at Jihoon and he smiled. 

Soonyoung walked over to Jihoon and Jihoon almost wanted to jump into the bushes beside himself and hide. “Jihoon right?” Soonyoung asked and Jihoon nodded, a blush sure to be adorning his cheeks. It was as if Soonyoung’s smile got even wider and Jihoon noticed his eyes turn into slits. “It’s nice to finally meet you like this” Soonyoung continued and Jihoon couldn’t help but let a small smile appear on his lips. 

“Have you eaten breakfast?” Jihoon asked and Soonyoung shook his head. “I’ll take you to a good place”.

Jihoon brought Soonyoung to one of the backstreets of Busan and to a small restaurant owned by an old lady. Jihoon had stumbled across the place with his friends when they had been out the whole night and started heading home to Junhui’s place and gotten lost in their slightly drunken stupor. 

Jihoon opened the door for Soonyoung who entered first and they kicked off their shoes in the small hallway. The restaurant was very homey and Soonyoung couldn’t help but look around in awe while Jihoon passed him to enter the restaurant. 

“Good morning auntie” Jihoon said when the older lady came out from the kitchen to see who had entered. Jihoon bowed to her and he smile broadened. 

“Jihoon-ah. Long time no see.” she said with a thick Busan dialect while she grabbed utensils and napkins. Jihoon smiled and waited for Soonyoung who was looking intently at a photograph on the wall. “You brought a friend?” she asked and placed a pitcher with water on the table. 

“Yes. He’s from Seoul so I’m showing him around” Jihoon said and the lady smiled. 

“You’re such a good person Jihoon-ah” she said and patted him on the head. 

Soonyoung made his way over to where Jihoon was now seated on the floor by a table and Soonyoung sat down across from him. 

“I ordered the morning soup and some pork if that’s okay with you?” Jihoon said and Soonyoung nodded. There was slightly awkward talk between them but when Jihoon had asked Soonyoung about the workshop he had held it was almost only Soonyoung talking. That was okay with Jihoon as he was much more of a listener than a talker. 

Soonyoung had been blown away by the food. He hadn’t had such good food since he ate at home with his parents that Christmas. He had thanked the lady who owned the place a hundred times before they left. 

Their day was spent by walking around Busan. Jihoon showed Soonyoung his favourite places and they entered a few shops where Soonyoung found a few new pieces of clothing. At the end of the day Jihoon brought Soonyoung to Gwangalli Beach per Soonyoung’s request. As soon as they got to the beach Soonyoung kicked off his shoes and ran onto the sand. “Ah, so nice” he sighed and Jihoon let a chuckle escape his lips before following Soonyoung after removing his own sneakers. The two of them sat down on the sand and looked at the sun that was starting to set. 

“You know what would be nice now?” Soonyoung asked and Jihoon turned to look at Soonyoung who was back with his elbows supporting him before shaking his head. “Chicken and beer” Soonyoung said and looked over at Jihoon. 

Jihoon didn’t say anything but fished his phone out of his pocket and called his favourite delivery. It took less than an hour before his phone rang again and he stood up to meet the delivery man. Coming back to Soonyoung he handed the blonde the beers and they started eating. 

“The only thing difficult with this is all the fucking sand” Soonyoung said but didn’t complain. The two of them ate together and Jihoon was gathering their trash when he looked over at Soonyoung again. 

“Where are you staying tonight?” he asked and Soonyoung looked at him. He gave him a shrug and looked back at the sunset. 

“I thought I’d find some sauna or somethign and stay there the night” Soonyoung said and he picked up his backpack as they stood. Jihoon watched Soonyoung put his backpack on and he threw their trash in a bin. 

“If you want to then you could always stay at my place” he said. He didn’t even really realise what he had said before he had already said it. How come he was being so brave all of a sudden?

“I don’t want to intrude on you, I mean we just met” Soonyoung said but Jihoon shook his head, convincing Soonyoung that it was alright and the two of them started heading towards Jihoon’s apartment. As soon as they stepped inside Jihoon’s apartment Soonyoung looked around his room, wanting to see every little part of the house that was Jihoon’s. 

“I only have one bed…” Jihoon said and scratched the back of his head while looking at his bed that stood in the corner of the room. “If you don’t feel uncomfortable then we can share” he continued and Soonyoung put down his backpack. 

“Well it’s fine with me. I shared a bed with my roommate when we lived in our last apartment. All of last year” he said and Jihoon nodded before turning to the small kitchenette he has. 

“Do you want anything to drink?” he asked and Soonyoung squatted down by his backpack and started digging into it. He looked up at Jihoon who was hidden behind the fridge door and he couldn’t help the soft smile on his face. 

“What do you have to offer?” Soonyoung asked before turning back to his backpack and pulling out a pair of clean underwear and a t-shirt. 

“I have water, orange juice or beer.” Jihoon said. He grabbed a beer for himself and straightened up to look at Soonyoung over the fridge door, only to find Soonyoung just beside him on the other side of the door, making him jump. 

“I’ll have a beer” Soonyoung said and Jihoon lifted up the bottle in his hand and gave it to Soonyoung who thanked him silently. “Is it alright if I take a shower?” he asked and Jihoon grabbed a beer for himself before nodding. 

“The bathroom is the door over there” he said and pointed at the white door that led to his small shower. 

The both of them showered and Jihoon had been just a little bit nervous when Soonyoung exited his bathroom, only wearing a t-shirt and underwear and his blonde hair dripping with water. He had looked so beautiful, even with his hair wet. And with that thought he had hurried into the bathroom after him. 

When Jihoon had exited the bathroom Soonyoung was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his phone playing some song and a sketchpad in hand. When Jihoon walked over Soonyoung didn’t look up and Jihoon spotted drawings and text that he couldn’t really understand even if it was in Korean. 

The moment he sat down beside Soonyoung the blonde looked up. “I have to finish a choreography for next week” he said but closed his notepad and put away his things before shuffling back on the bed until his back was resting against the wall, like Jihoon was sitting. Soonyoung held up his beer in his hand and Jihoon let out a chuckle before clinking his own bottle against Soonyoung’s. “For first meetings. And tumblr” 

~

Neither of them realised when the time ran by, just a few minutes ago it was barely 10pm and now it’s 3am. Jihoon and Soonyoung are laying in Jihoon’s bed. Their shoulders are touching and Jihoon is snuggled down under his comforter and Soonyoung is sloppily under his own, the one Jihoon uses additionally during the winter months. 

“Why do you think I was chosen to be your Secret Santa?” Soonyoung asks while scrolling through his tumblr on his phone. Jihoon turns his head toward Soonyoung. He studies the blond’s profile before remembering that Soonyoung probably expected an answer. He shrugs and looks back at the ceiling. 

“I don’t know. Probably because my blog is so ‘depressing’, like Seungcheol likes to call it. They probably thought you’d somehow make me into some fucking flower of happiness” Jihoon said and Soonyoung couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh. 

“I am just imagining you with flower petals around your head and saying something like ‘fuck off’ when someone tries to water you.” Soonyoung says and Jihoon can’t stop his smile. 

“I think of myself more as an cactus than a petal clad flower” Jihoon said and Soonyoung looked over at him. 

“Well I see myself as a Sunflower” he says before turning back to his phone.  _ You are one _ , Jihoon thinks but doesn’t say anything and the next second Soonyoung shuffles up close to him, their heads now pressed against eachother and he raises his hands to fit them both on the phone screen that Jihoon recognises as Snapchat opened. “I need to show Seokmin that you’re real” he says and snaps a picture of the two of them with he bunny-filter that rounds their face and widens their eyes. The picture is in a few taps sent to one of Soonyoung’s friends but it doesn’t stop there. 

Jihoon just goes along but doesn’t make any bigger effort than change his facial expression a few times, but Soonyoung still has a blast. 

They are playing around with the dog-filter when Jihoon starts feeling his eyes starting to close and he lets out a big yawn and Soonyoung notices. “Tired?” he asks and Jihoon just hums in return. “I’ll send one last to Seokmin and then we can sleep” he mumbles. He wiggles even closer to Jihoon, if that’s possible. Jihoon watches the screen as he himself has the black and white dotted dogears and Soonyoung has the brown ones. 

Then, without really realising what is happening once again Soonyoung has his lips pressed against his cheek in a soft peck and Jihoon’s eyes widen a little bit. Soonyoung doesn’t say anything and sends the picture, not after saving it, and puts his phone down on the floor beside the bed. “Good night” he says and turns to lay on his right side. Jihoon doesn’t say anything but glances at Soonyoung’s back that is facing him before lifting a hand to his cheek to touch the spot that Soonyoung had just kissed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this, constructive crisitism is valued highly!


	4. Busan boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soonyoung leaves for Seoul. And Jihoon doesn't want him to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have been neglecting this for two weeks. bc university happened. and life happened. and writers block happened. But it's quite long so i hope it's fine!

Jihoon watched Soonyoung as the blonde was standing at his stove, clad in the same t-shirt he slept in a pair of black underwear while his hair stood to every direction. Jihoon couldn’t help but think back at the night before, he still really couldn’t believe that Soonyoung had kissed his cheek. 

Jihoon was trying to convince himself that the gesture had been completely platonic, Soonyoung seemed like the type of person to enjoy closeness judging from how Jihoon had woken up to Soonyoung’s arms wrapped around his midsection and nose pressed against his shoulder. 

But Jihoon couldn’t deny the fact that his cheek was still tingling from how Soonyoung’s lips had been pressed against it. And he couldn’t deny the fact that he had fallen asleep with a smile on his lips and thinking back at the small kiss on the cheek. 

“Tadaaaah~” Soonyoung sings when putting down two plates of breakfast infront of Jihoon at the small table in front of him. Jihoon is pulled back to reality and his eyes travel down to the plate and his mouth almost salivates at the sight of food that wasn’t cup noodles. 

The two of them eat together, neither of them mentioning what had happened the night before, Jihoon too scared to face the reality that Soonyoung didn’t really mean anything by it. 

“My train leaves at three.” Soonyoung says and Jihoon looks up from his food. Right, Soonyoung had to go back to Seoul. Jihoon nods and looks over at the clock. 

“Exactly 3?” he asks, he has to calculate when they should leave. 

“Well 3.05 really” 

The two of them clean up the dishes together, even after Jihoon tried to convince Soonyoung that he didn’t have to do it but ending up on plate drying duty instead, and change clothes before sitting around for a few hours, talking, snapchatting Seokmin again and scrolling through tumblr a few too many times before they head out. 

Jihoon leads the way and it is 2.48 when they arrive at the trainstation. Jihoon follows Soonyoung to the platform and right train before they sit down on one of the benches on the platform. Neither of them really say anything, they don’t know what to say. 

Jihoon is fumbling with a piece of thread where his jeans have ripped on his thigh and Soonyoung is letting his fingers dance across his own thighs in some pattern that he can’t register himself. 

2.58

“You should probably board the train so that you don’t miss it” Jihoon says quitely as his fingers let go of the string of thread. Soonyoung looks over at Jihoon who is still looking down at his hands before nodding to himself. 

Neither of them stood up for a minute before Jihoon took charge and stood up with Soonyoung following him. 

“I guess this is it” the blonde said and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Jihoon looked up at him and couldn’t help the tiny tiny butterflies in his stomach go berserk. Soonyoung was wearing a grey hoodie that was slightly too big for him and the hood hung on his head giving him a soft look, that boyfriend material look. 

“Yeah, I guess so.” Jihoon said and frowned a little. 

“Thanks for letting me stay over” Soonyoung said and Jihoon nodded. 

3.03 

_ Train to Seoul departing in two minutes from platform 8, please ensure you have your tickets and don’t leave any of your belongings on the platform.  _

Jihoon was about to start shoving Soonyoung onto the train when the blonde wrapped his arms around Jihoon. He holds him close and Jihoon can’t help but wrap his arms around Soonyoung in a hug back. He leans back a little and the two of them look at eachother before Soonyoung giggles a bit. Jihoon wants to lean up to him and press his lips against Soonyoung’s in a kiss but he doesn’t, because he doesn’t know if Soonyoung likes him the same way. 

And almost the next second Soonyoung is standing on the train, hand pressed against the window of the door and the other is waving at Jihoon. Jihoon had just enough time to wave back before the train rolls away and his eyes may have been playing a trick on him when he saw Soonyoung’s smile disappear and be replaced by a sad look on his face. 

~

Soonyoung sent a text to Jihoon when he was back at home, along with a picture of himself on his bed. But after that message they hadn’t sent another message to eachother. Jihoon wanted to send him a message so bad but he didn’t want to distrub Soonyoung either, what if he had something very important in school? Or what if he had some work project he had to do?

It isn’t until thursday morning when Jihoon gets a text message from Soonyoung. He is sat with Seungcheol in his studio at school when his phone buzzes on the table. Jihoon is in the recording booth and Seungcheol glances at the phone beside the keyboards to the computer. A smile spreads on his face but he lets Jihoon finish the part he was recording before holding up his phone towards Jihoon. 

Jihoon can’t really can’t see what Seungcheol is trying to show him and it isn’t until Seungcheol presses the button so that Jihoon can hear him in the booth when he realises. “Soonyoung sent you a message” Seungcheol’s voice rings and Jihoon is almost flying out of the room and he snatches his phone out of Seungcheol’s hands. He opens the message and sits down on the couch they had somehow fit into the room last semester. 

_ I’m thinking of coming down to Busan tomorrow. Is it okay?  _

_ Well I can’t decide what you can and can’t do _

_ Well no shit. But I was thinking if we could hang out again? :)  _

_ I need to get out of Seoul for a while _

~

And that was how Jihoon is now standing at the trainstation again. This time he is pacing up and down the platform where Soonyoung had told him that his train would be arriving to. Jihoon’s earphones are plugged in and he tries to distract himself by listening to his friends’ Hansol and Jisoo’s podcast. But he doesn’t really register anything of what they are saying. 

Jihoon is surprised when the train rolls up beside him and he pulls out his earphones before stuffing them in his jeanspockets, probably a bad decision as they will have made up 20 knots when he pulls out them the next time. 

He watches the train slowly, almost painfully slowly, roll forward before stopping. The doors open and people start exiting the train. Jihoon looks around, unable to find his blonde haired friend before a voice yells from farther down the platform. 

“Jihoon!” 

Jihoon turns his head to his right and he has just enough time to spot Soonyoung running before the blonde collides with him, his arms wrapped around him and Jihoon stumbles backwards, his hands flying to grab a hold of Soonyoung out of reflex and he can’t stop the laugh leaving his lips. 

“Hi Soonyoung” he says and the blonde pulls away from him. 

“Sorry, I just didn’t want you to miss me in the mass.” Soonyoung says with a cheeky smile. 

“Well it is hard to miss someone when they assault you the first thing” Jihoon says and turns to walk off the platform. 

“Hey, I was just giving you a hug!” Soonyoung protest before jogging after him to fall in step with him, his arm positioned around Jihoon’s shoulders. 

They weren’t at Jihoon’s place until 10pm because of the way through half of Busan for food, such as deokkbeokki that tasted heavenly according to Soonyoung. They kick of their shoes in Jihoon’s entrence and Soonyoung puts his backpack, the same one as last time, next to Jihoon’s bed. Once again they go through the motions of the weekend before; Soonyoung showers and changes into a t-shirt and clean underwear before Jihoon goes to shower. 

But this time when Jihoon comes out of the bathroom he spots Soonyoung laying on his bed. He is laying on his stomach with his head on a pillow and eyes are closed. He lookes so at peace that Jihoon doesn’t have the heart to wake him up and he realises that he probably wouldn’t be able to wake him up. Jihoon has to all but wreslte the comforter from under Soonyoung to be able to cover him in it and at the end he is cursing to himself. 

“Why did I even shower if I just got sweaty again” he mumbles while crawling over Soonyoung to lay down on the part of the bed closest to the wall. 

~

Saturday wasn’t the best day. Jihoon woke up, once again with Soonyoung clining onto him, to the sound of rain against the window. He craned his head back to look over at the window to see the clouds in a color of dark blue, alamost purple. 

Jihoon wriggled out of Soonyoung’s grasp, careful not to wake up the blonde who was sleeping so peacefully. Manageing to get out of bed Jihoon ruffled his hair and looked over at the clock on his kitchen wall. 

6 am. 

Jihoon sighed and started at his morning coffee. He leaned back against the counter and he looked over at Soonyoung. The comforter had slid down to Soonyoung’s waist and his t-shirt had slid up his back, revealing some of his lower back. 

Jihoon’s gaze stayed on the lower back of Soonyoung, displaying a pair of back dimples and Jihoon couldn’t helpt but smile a little before turning back to his coffee and pouring up a cup for himself. 

Jihoon took his cup with him before he walks over to his window and sat down on the small love seat that he had places between the window and the bed. He sipped at his coffee before resting the cup on the armrest on his right side before he looked over at Soonyoung again. 

Jihoon didn’t want to admit it, he still didn’t want admit that he might be having a tiny crush on the blonde who was sleeping so peacefully in his bed. 

They had only met once before but Jihoon knew that he liked Soonyoung more than he had ever liked someone else before. Not even his best friend Wonwoo made him feel this way, feel this happy and giddy. 

Jihoon turned to look out the window and before carefully balancing his cup of coffee on the armrest and lifting up his laptop from the floor. 

Jihoon didn’t realise how quick time was passing while he had been working on his music when he heard a groan from his left side. He looked away from his computer, his eyes first moving to look at the clock before he looked at Soonyoung who was laid on his stomach, face buried in his pillow before the blonde lifted his head and opened his eyes. 

Jihoon watched as Soonyoung slowly slid up to sit on his knees, his t-shirt hanging loose on his shoulders, one arm hanging down beside him while his other hand rubbed at his face before pushing down the mop of air on his head that still stood to every direction. Soonyoung lifted his head and looked at Jihoon for just a second before turning to look towards the clock in Jihoon’s kitchen. 

Jihoon missed the small tint of pink on Soonyoung’s cheeks when he had seen Jihoon looking at him. Soonyoung stood up from the bed and stretched, arms up in the air and back arching and there was a pop in his back when he cracked his spine. “How long have you been up?” Soonyoung asked, still not looking at Jihoon in the loveseat. 

Jihoon shrugged his shoulders. “Just a few hours” he said and Soonyoung walked into Jihoon’s bathroom. 

11 am. 

Jihoon turned back to his computer and continued his work, his earpiece still intact while he listened to his track. “Are you hungry?” he asked when Soonyoung came back out from the bathroom. 

“A bit” Soonyoung mumbled but sat down on the bed again. He fell to his side so that his head hit the pillow once again. “I am so tired” he whined and Jihoon couldn’t help the smirk on his lips. He saved his work before closing his laptop and placing it down on the floor, a little but under the bed, once again. 

“Let’s eat some breakfast. Then I have to get groceries.” Jihoon said, slapping Soonyoung’s arm while he walked past him and into the kitchen. He knew that all he had at the moment was a few pieces of brea and an apple Seungcheol had left earlier that week. “Be prepared. All I have is coffee” he said when Soonyoung stood behind him, his hands resting on Jihoon’s shoulders that left a tingling sensation on him. 

“We can have some french toast if you want to?” 

“I don’t have any eggs”

“... fuck”

In the end the two of them got dressed and left Jihoon’s apartment. Walking close together under Jihoon’s umbrella they made their way to the grocery store. Soonyoung pulled out a shopping cart before climbing in and the tilted his head to look back at Jihoon. 

Jihoon sighed whil he dumped the soaked umbrella in Soonyoung’s lap before he started pushing the cart. 

Their grocery shopping took a while longer as Soonyoung wanted to stop at every shelf and somehow managed to find something he wanted and in the end he had his lap full of food when they arrived to the registry. 

Soonyoung climbs out of the cart and pushes Jihoon past the cashier. “Pack the things” he says. 

“What? I need to pay-”

“No can do. I’m paying” 

The debate about who is supposed to pay ends with Soonyoung and Jihoon shoving eachother and the scared looking cashier boy who can’t be older than a high school senior is staring at them, not really knowing what to do before Soonyoung’s credit card comes flying towards him. 

“Swipe it!” Soonyoung tells the black haired boy who frantically swipes his card with shaky hands while the blonde holds Jihoon back by the waist. 

Jihoon slumps together when the boy behind the counter is handing back Soonyoung’s card along with the receipt with shaky hands. 

“Thanks Chan, I’ll remember you in the future” Soonyoung says and grabs his card that from the table. He packs three grocery bags full before he looks over at the sulking Jihoon. “What?” he asks, shoulders slumping and his smile falling from his face. 

“I can’t believe I let you pay for this much” Jihoon mumbles when they walk out of the store and he shoves the cart back where it belongs before opening the umbrella to protect them both from the rain. 

“It’s the least I can do.” Soonyoung says and shoves Jihoon a little bit. “I mean you’re letting me stay at your apartment without paying” 

“Oh I am?” Jihoon says and raises a brow. The two of them laugh before walking into the elevator of Jihoon’s apartment complex. 

~

When they got home Soonyoung had once again made breakfast while Jihoon watched him. And throughout the rest of the day they watched TV and talked, not leaving Jihoon’s apartment because of the rain that had continued pouring down. 

At one moment Jihoon’s downstairs neighbour and best friend Wonwoo had come by, perfectly at the moment when Jihoon was on the toilet. Soonyoung had opened the door to Wonwoo’s surprise, who double checked the number by the door to be sure that he had not gone to the wrong floor with the elevator while he had been reading a text on his phone. 

Wonwoo had asked Soonyoung if Jihoon was at home and Soonyoung had smiling told him he was taking a shit before letting Wonwoo in and Jihoon had groaned loudly at Soonyoung’s comment when he opened the door. 

Wonwoo had come by to get his books that he had borrowed Jihoon a few weeks back and he left his apartment after sending Jihoon a smirk and an unsolicited imitation of sucking a dick which made Jihoon grab the closest thing to himself, which happened to be one of his university books from the year before, that he then hurled towards where Wonwoo was leaving his apartment. The book slammed against the door when Wonwoo had quickly slipped out and closed the door. 

“What happened?” Soonyoung asked behind Jihoon who was blushing furiously while getting his book. 

“Nothing, Wonwoo’s just being a dick” Jihoon mumbled before placing his book back on the shelf it had previously been on. 

The two of them spent the rest of the day doing nothing in particular until Soonyoung asked Jihoon something. “Can I hear some of your music?” 

Jihoon looked over at Soonyoung. He usually never let anyone besides Seungcheol, Wonwoo and the teachers hear his music. He never really posted it anywhere but something made him get his laptop and open it. He didn’t say anything but opened his folder with the finished songs before he picked one of his favourites, Simple, to play. 

Jihoon glances up at Soonyoung to watch his reaction. The blonde is sitting turned towards Jihoon but his eyes are closed. As soon as Jihoon’s voice begins singing and the dark haired male looks down at the computer again. They sit in silence together until the song finishes and Jihoon waits for Soonyoung to say something but when he doesn’t he opens his own mouth. 

“I know it’s not-” he begins but he is interrupted by Soonyoung. 

“Can I make a choreography for it?” he asks and Jihoon looks up and meets Soonyoung’s excited face. 

“W-what?” 

“Can I please make a choreogaphy for that song? It is exactly the song I need” 

~

Jihoon ended up moving the mp3 file to Soonyoung’s phone. They had ordered take out and were now laying on Jihoon’s bed in a food coma. Jihoon’s eyes were closed and Soonyoung was laying next to him. 

“What do you do for fun in Busan?” Soonyoung asked and Jihoon managed to crack his eyes open and turned to look at Soonyoung. 

“What do you mean? Am I not fun enough?” Jihoon asked and Soonyoung lazily slapped Jihoon’s chest, making him let out a laugh. 

“Of course you are. I mean like... “ Soonyoung started and shuffled to lay on his side to face Jihoon. “Like in Seoul we go out to bars or clubbing. Or just hang in Hongdae.”

“Well… I usually hang out at this one pub with Wonwoo. Seungcheol and Junhui are more of the clubbing types”

It is quiet between them before Soonyoung turned back onto his back. “Can we please go clubbing some time?”


	5. Let's Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Soonyoung has convinced Jihoon to take him out clubbing and they end up wasted.

Jihoon would rather have gone to the bar a few blocks away from his apartment than sitting on the bus into the city. But alas, here he is seated beside his blonde friend Soonyoung who is just a little bit tipsy from the pre-drinking they had done at his apartment. 

Jihoon watches Soonyoung as he is in a very hectic discussion with Junhui, whom Jihoon had introduced him to just hours before, over what was better; peanutbutter or nutella. Soonyoung was on team nutella while Junhui was on the other team. He can’t help but shake his head and look over at Wonwoo who is seated beside Junhui across form him. 

“Hey” Jihoon kicked Wonwoo’s leg lightly and his dark haired looks back at him, moving his gaze from the window towards Jihoon. “Cheer up, Mingyu’ll be back in just two months” 

“Yeah, I know… The apartment just… It feels empty without him” Wonwoo says and looks down at his phone. Wonwoo’s boyfriend Mingyu is an ethnoarcheology student and is currently away on a exchange program to Greece. 

“You’ll make it through. And I know he misses you a lot” Jihoon says and looks at his friend who turns to look out the window again. 

“I know” he almost breathes out. 

Without realising the bus has arrived to their stop and the four of them disembarked the bus. Junhui starts leading the way, arm in arm with Soonyoung who was singing along with him to some old song from the 90’s. Jihoon can’t help his little jealous feeling in his stomach when he looks at them and he can’t stop the frown on his face. 

When the four of them arrive to the club they get in and it’s not long before they find Seungcheol. “It’s so nice you guys are here!” he slurred and wraps his arms around them. “Oh, this is Jeonghan and Jisoo”. Seungcheol had let them go and his arms are instead wrapped around the shoulders of two guys. 

One of them had blonde, almost greyish hair tied back in a low ponytail and he had eyes that held such mischief that they almost shone in the darkness of the club. The other one had lightbrown hair and when he smiled he showed of a ring in his mouth, a smiley piercing. 

“This round is on me!” Soonyoung yelled and the group, excluding Jihoon and Wonwoo, erupts in happy cheers before they were handed their drinks. 

Jihoon had been planning on staying rather sober but when Soonyoung pushed a drink into his hands he couldn’t say no. The happiness in Soonyoung’s face made Jihoon’s lips turn upwards at the corners and he held up his glass in a cheer for his friend who sloppily clinked their glasses together before drinking. 

Jihoon stayed by the bar with Wonwoo. Neither of them were really the party types and they were fine by just watching their friends dance. Jisoo had come over to them, grabbing their wrists and tried to pull them along. He was very charming with an angel-like smile with a little ring glimmering in his gums. Jisoo had almost managed to get Jihoon to stand up before he hand shook his head at Jisoo’s pleading making the brunette sigh. “Well, come dance when you feel like it, I won’t force you” he said before leaving.

Soon enough Soonyoung forces himself to stand between Wonwoo and Jihoon who were turned towards the bar. “Three tequila shots here!” he yells to the bartender who quickly whipped up the drinks and places them in front of Soonyoung. “One for you” he says and places one of the shots in front of Wonwoo, “One for you” he places the other shot in front of Jihoon before he takes the last one. “Bottoms up” he says before drinking the shot. Jihoon sighs and empties the glass and he had barely enough time to set down the glass before Soonyoung moved another shot in front of him. 

Soonyoung was a horrible person to go out drinking with. Jihoon learns that the hard way. Because soon enough Soonyoung has gotten way too many drinks into him and Jihoon is now dancing in the middle of the dance floor. He is moving his body to the beat of the loud music that is blasting from the speakers and somehow Soonyoung and him are very close to eachother. Jihoon can feel Soonyoung’s hands on his hips and he can’t help but stare at Soonyoung’s face. His gaze is travelling to the blonde’s lips that are mouthing the words to every song playing and in the end he lets his hands move on their own, one of his hands resting on Soonyoung’s neck while the other is on his shoulder. He can feel Soonyoung’s body move closer to him and how they are all out grinding against eachother. 

Jihoon’s body is warm and he can still feel people brushing against himself but all he can think about it Soonyoung’s body against his. His hazy brain has a hard time to make out the trip home from the club, he knows they took a taxi but he can’t really remember the trip home, he can only remember that Soonyoung is sat very close to him, their thighs pressed to eachother and how Soonyoung’s arm is wrapped around his shoulder. He also remembers how they had started singing to Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver at some moment through the taxi ride. 

The next thing when he realises what is happening his body is pressed against Soonyoung. His fingers are threading through Soonyoung’s blonde hair and Soonyoung has his arms wrapped around his waist while their lips are pressed in a hungry kiss. 

Jihoon doesn’t really know what is happening or if he wants it or who initiated it but he doesn’t care and he feels the butterflies in his stomach. 

Soonyoung’s hands move softly over his body, they travel from around Jihoon’s waist to softly caress Jihoon’s butt, making him press a little closer to Soonyoung, before giving it a firm squeeze that elicts a whine into their kiss. 

Soonyoung’s lips form a smile and he lets out a little giggle against Jihoon’s lips before his hands travel up and under the t-shirt that Jihoon is wearing. His fingers are cold against Jihoon’s warm body and Jihoon almost keens at the cold but manages to hold it in. His own hands have travelled down from Soonyoung’s hair and to his chest where they are resting. He moves his lips away from Soonyoung’s lips and slowly moves to kiss the corner of his lips, to his jaw, before finally placing kisses against his neck. 

Jihoon pushes Soonyoung carefully, making the blonde move backwards and Jihoon shoves him down to lay on the bed in the room. He moves down onto the bed and straddles Soonyoung’s waist. Soonyoung sits up and he grabbes Jihoon’s t-shirt that he then pulls off before he lays down. Jihoon manages a smile, but his gaze isn’t as steady anymore as he moves down to kiss Soonyoung. He teases Soonyoung and ghosts over his lips before smirking and moving to kiss Soonyoung’s neck. 

His kisses slowly turn lazy and he feels sleep take over his body and he hopes to God that Soonyoung won’t hate him in the morning. 

~

Soonyoung doesn’t hate Jihoon in the morning. That’s something Jihoon is sure of when he wakes up. The moment Jihoon had woken up he had let out a groan and hid under the covers of his bed when the sun hit him in the face. The second thing he had heard was Soonyoung’s wailing and retching in his bathroom. 

“I hate my life” Soonyoung whined just loud enough for Jihoon to hear but Jihoon himself didn’t have enough strength to move from under the covers. He listens to Soonyoung who is still in his bathroom before he stands up and walks over to the bathroom door. He finds Soonyoung sitting under his sink with his face in his hands. 

“How are you feeling?” Jihoon asks and his voice is so raspy that he almost can’t speak at all. 

“Like I went to hell and back” Soonyoung says, not moving an inch. 

“Let’s take a shower.” Jihoon says and steps into the bathroom and takes a hold of Soonyoung’s wrist before pulling him up. Soonyoung really does look like shit. And he smells like shit. 

Jihoon manages to undress himself and Soonyoung before shoving Soonyoung into the shower and then stepping in after him. He doesn’t really know how he doesn’t get a boner seeing Soonyoung all wet because of the water but he is pretty sure that if he didn’t have the worst hangover ever then he wouldn’t have made it through the shower without an aching boner. 

When they are clean again and Jihoon has handed Soonyoung an oversized sweater and a pair of shorts that he had forgotten the weekend before the blonde walks straight to the bed and flops down with his face pressed against the pillow. 

“I never want to get drunk again” Jihoon hears him mumble. Himself he has a headsplitting headache but he doesn’t feel like he has to hurl so he guesses Soonyoung had more drinks the night before. And it isn’t until now that Jihoon looks at the clock. 

12.54 

“When is your train leaving?” Jihoon asks and manages to find his phone in the kitchen. 

“At 5.” Soonyoung mumbles and turns to lay on his side so that he can see Jihoon. 

Jihoon orders Haejjangguk for the both of them and he lets Soonyoung lay in his bed, who fell asleep at some moment, before the food arrives and they eat together. They sit in silence, the only thing heard is slurping from them when they eat the soups and the ticking of the clock on the wall. 

Jihoon goes to the trains station with Soonyoung and Jihoon can’t help but wonder if he is remembering the night before like he does and if anything he remembers even happened. Was the making out that he can remember just some type of game his brain came up with to fuck him up. 


	6. Tie Dye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where they get haircuts and dye jobs from Jisoo

It was march when Soonyoung started coming down to Busan every weekend. He’d take the train from Seoul after his last practice on Friday evenings and Jihoon would meet him at the trainstation in Busan. From there they’d go somewhere and eat or buy groceries so that Soonyoung would cook for Jihoon. 

It was Wonwoo who noticed the changes in Jihoon first. He had noticed that Jihoon wouldn’t appear to be as grumpy and snarky even if they were loaded with assignments and projects. He noticed this one afternoon when he was stood in the recording booth with Jihoon sitting by the controls. Wonwoo had been tripping over his words for a fair part of the already and they had done this certain part of the song at least eight times. Normally Jihoon would have kicked him out after the third and told him to go get Seungcheol if he can’t ‘ _get his fucking shit together_ ’, but today Jihoon had only told Wonwoo to _‘take it easy and do some proper warm ups and tell him when he was ready to try again_ ’. Wonwoo had furrowed his brows and started the ridiculous warm ups he’d learned during his one elective course to improve ones singing techniques. 

“I’ll be back in five, gonna get coffee” Jihoon announced to Wonwoo who gave him the thumbs up before watching the shorter leave the room. 

While doing his warm ups Wonwoo shuffled back and forth in the room he fished out his phone from his pocket. He opened the app for tumblr and scrolled through his dashboard. He mostly followed his friends but also a few other blogs that were of his taste. 

He stopped at a colorful photo and looked at who had reblogged it before pressing the username to get to Jihoon’s blog. It had been a while since Wonwoo had been on tumblr he was sure that Jihoon ran a black and white blog. But now there were pictures of all colours and quotes of all types. 

Wonwoo knew that Soonyoung was a part of the change in Jihoon. And it was a positive change. 

~

Jihoon has changed his regular jeansjacket to wearing an oversized sweater only and he is sat by the benches of the trainstation while writing on one of his assignments on his computer. When he got to the trainstation it was still 20 minutes until Soonyoung’s train from Seoul would arrive so he took out his computer to make the best of it. He didn’t notice the time passing until someone started closing the lid to his laptop and he looked up, ready to swear at the person who was trying to ruin his work. 

In front of him stands Soonyoung with a smile on his face while prodding at the laptop lid with his index finger to close it. “I’ll just save if quickly” Jihoon mumbles and finishes his sentence and presses the save button before closing the lid and shoving his computer back into his bag. He stands up and Soonyoung places his arm around his shoulder. 

“Wanna eat out today or do you want me to cook for you?” Soonyoung asks. This is how their relationship is now. No ‘ _hello, how you been_?’, just straight to the weekend plans. 

“I don’t know” Jihoon shrugs and the two walk out from the trainstation. “You choose” 

“Let’s go grocery shopping then!” Soonyoung says and turns them around as he has alreayd memorized where the grocery store is. 

Jihoon is pushing the cart with Soonyoung sitting in it and in Soonyoung’s lap is almost all of their groceries when they go by the beauty section to head to the cashregistry. 

“Wait, stop” Soonyoung says and climbs out of the cart when Jihoon stops. He walks over to the haircolors and picks up a package. Jihoon follows him and leans against the handle while watching Soonyoung. “I need to re-dye my roots.” the blonde mumbles. 

Jihoon doesn’t know what Soonyoung’s looks like under the grey beanie but he does notice that his hair has gotten longer than since they first met. “And I need to get a haircut too… But it’s so expensive” the blonde whines when he puts the hairbleach in the cart. 

“I can check with Jisoo if he can come by, Seungcheol told me he’s a hairdresser” Jihoon says when they start walking again and Soonyoung looks over at him. 

“Could you? That’d be awesome” Soonyoung says. They arrive at the cashregistry and once again it’s the boy from their first trip to the grocery store together who is at the registry. 

“Hello Chan. How are you doing?” Soonyoung asks with a smile on his face when he pays for his hairdye and the boy is still a little bit nervous at his work even if Soonyoung tries to be as nice as he can. Jihoon suspects that the poor boy is still traumatized from the first time they were there together. 

“Hello, I’m doing good thank you” Jihoon snorted at how formal the young boy was but continued unloading the cart of groceries. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good. A lot of practice.” Soonyoung says and he hands Chan his card, he swipes it and then gives him his reciept along with the card. “You know… you don’t happen to dance? Because I swear I’ve seen you somewhere” Soonyoung says and Jihoon shoves him to the side to start packing their items into bags. 

“I-I” Chan’s cheeks are now pink out of embarrassement. “I do dance a little.” 

It’s quiet for a while as Chan scans their items and Soonyoung packs their bags. 

“That’ll be 38,700 won-”

“You’re ‘MJchan99’ on Youtube!” Soonyoung lets out and points at Chan. The poor boy’s face turns red and Jihoon sees him become rigid. Soonyoung is standing beside him now and Jihoon just sighs when he hands Chan his card. 

The boy has his head down and scans Jihoon’s card before quikly handing him the reciept. “Thank you for shopping with us and I hope to see you soon” he says quickly and makes a move to remove himself from the registry. 

“Chan, Chan! Wait” Soonyoung follows the boy who is trying to get away from them. Jihoon watches Soonyoung and shakes his head when the blonde takes a hold of the small and scared boy. “I want to compliment you on your dancing and you know, if you want to come up to Seoul and dance then I can reccomend you to some academies. And I’ll help you find the best school in Seoul if you want to take up dancing professionally” 

Chan stops and looks up at Soonyoung. “I-I…” he starts but can’t get anything out of himself. 

“I’ll give you my card and you can contact me whenever. Or just talk with me the next time we come by” Soonyoung smiles and he pulls his wallet out of his pocket before giving Chan a small card. “Think about what you want to do and I’ll help. You’re really talented you know” 

Jihoon watched as Soonyoung talked with the small boy before giving him a piece of paper that looked suspiciously like a business card. When Soonyoung came back they took two bags each before exiting the store. 

“You have business cards?” Jihoon asks, raising a brow. 

“Yeah I do. I mostly give them to people I want to work with when I’m doing workshops or when I’m on a project somewhere.” Soonyoung answers and Jihoon rolls his eyes. 

~

Jihoon calls Seungcheol to ask for Jisoo’s phonenumber and to his surprise Seungcheol tells him to hold on a second and the next second Jisoo’s mellow voice is in his ears. 

“Hello?” Jisoo asks and Jihoon jumps a bit, not ready for such a change and to be able to talk to Jisoo instantly. 

“Oh, uh. Hi. Jisoo right?” Jihoon asks. 

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Oh, um. Seungcheol told me you’re a hairdresser?” 

“Yeah I am, do you need to get your hair cut?” 

“I don’t need it per see but Soonyoung needs a hair cut and-”

“Yeah sure, when do you want me to come over?” 

“Oh, I-I guess sometime this weekend” 

“How about tomorrow, noon?” 

“Sure. Seungcheol’ll give you the adress.” 

And that was how they ordered a hairdresser to Jihoon’s apartment. And sure enough at noon sharp the doorbell rings and Jihoon opens the door to a smiling Jisoo, his smiley piercing once again appearing with a small shine. 

They set up in the kitchen and Soonyoung has just finished showering so Jisoo lays out his things before starting combing the hair. 

“How do you want me to cut it?” Jisoo asks while combing Soonyoung’s hair. 

“I’m not totally sure. Because I don’t want it super short.” Soonyoung says. “I mean like it’s a part of me and my branding so I don’t want it too short.” 

Jihoon snorts when he hears that his hair is ‘his branding’ and he looks over at Soonyoung from his position on the floor. “What fucking branding? You don’t have a brand” 

“Yes I do! It’s the sexy blonde dancer” Soonyoung says and both Jisoo and Jihoon let out laughs. 

“Alright, Is it okay if I cut the hair shorter on the sides and keep it a little bit longer on the top?” Jisoo asks and Soonyoung says yes. “Do you need a touch up on your roots too?” Jisoo asks flat out and Soonyoung looks down at his lap. 

“Yeah I do. I was thinking of doing it tonight” Soonyoung says and turns to look at Jisoo. Jisoo’s smile makes him look like a kitten. 

“I’ll do it now so the result is better.” 

And so begins the work on Soonyoung’s hair. It doesn’t take long. It takes less than two hours and when Jisoo announces he is finished Jihoon looks up from his computer where he was still working on his assignment. Soonyoung has looks like a new person. His hair reminds Jihoon of Lee Minho’s character from The Heir. Except it’s bright blonde. 

Soonyoung looks himself in the mirror with a wide smile on his face. “Wow, thanks Jisoo! This is perfect” 

Jisoo just smiles again and he looks over at Jihoon. The small boy is sat on the floor and his fringe has been put up with the help of a flower clip and he does look adorable as heck but Jisoo knows that he is annoyed with the hair. “Jihoon, do you want me to cut your hair too?” 

Jihoon looks over at Jisoo who is looking pointedly at his little updo.

“I mean... “ Jihoon says and then he stands up and lets his hair out of the clip. “If you’re not busy then yeah, it’d be nice.” 

Jisoo looks at the bowl of bleach that is left and turns to Jihoon who has sat down on the chair. “Hey Jihoon, is it okay if I try something on your hair?” Jisoo asks and Jihoon furrows his brows before turning to look at the boy. 

“What does it consist of? I won’t go bald will I?” he asks and Jisoo laughs. 

“Of course not. It’s just a dye job I’ve wanted to try since I learnt it back in school.” 

“Okay, Sure. If you fuck this up I’ll gouge your eyes out” 

“I promise I won’t” Jisoo laughs and he starts working on Jihoon’s hair. Since Jihoon still had a lot to do on his assignment they situated him at a table with his laptop. At one point a friend of Jisoo, his name was Hansol had come by delivering a plastic bag of things to Jisoo and had stayed behind to help Jisoo. From the conversation they had Jihoon learned that Hansol was a trainee at the salon where Jisoo worked. 

Soonyoung sat with Jihoon and his eyes shone with excitement but he wouldn’t tell Jihoon what they were doing to his hair. Throughout the whole procedure Jihoon had to wash his hair at least 5 times as they applied something to his hair multiple times. And finally they began cutting. 

The work Jisoo did on his hair took way longer than Soonyoung’s had and they had already ordered food when Jisoo started blowdryeing his hair and doing the last things on his hair. 

“And we are done” Jisoo says as he removes the protective cape from Jihoon and tells him to go check himself in the mirror. 

The second Jihoon looks at himself in the mirror he has to do a double take. “What the fuck” he announces just as the doorbell rings. Soonyoung opens the door and there stands Junhui, of all people Junhui, in his workclothes. 

“What the fuck happened to Jihoon?” Junhui asks when he sees Jihoon exit the bathroom and seeing his hair. Soonyoung lets out a laugh and takes the pizza from the boy. 

“Jisoo happened” Jihoon grunts and walks to the kitchen where Hansol had found his vaccum and is cleaning his floor. “What the fuck Jisoo?” he asks and points at his hair.

“I told you, you wouldn’t go bald” Jisoo answers with a sly smirk. 

“But pink? Out of colors, fucking pink?” Jihoon asks. 

“Not a lot of people have asked for pink. I even had to convince Jeonghan to let me do his hair grey.” Jisoo says. “And pink suits you.” 


	7. Tattoos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very short filler chapter, i hope you guys still like it! Also sorry for not updating in so long

Soonyoung shuffles around in the bed to turn towards Jihoon who was lying on his stomach beside him while doing something on his computer. “What do you think about tattoos?” Soonyoung asks and Jihoon glaces over at him before looking back at his computer. 

“I guess they’re okay. I don’t mind them” he says and shrugs. Soonyoung continues looking at Jihoon who can feel the blond’s gaze on himself. “If you think you’re convincing me to get some tattoo then you are so wrong”. 

Soonyoung laughs and sits up. He starts pulling off his t-shirt and Jihoon can’t help but blush a little bit as his stomach clenches. When the blond has pulled his shirt completely off and turned his back towards Jihoon he notices it for the first time. The tattoo on Soonyoung’s shoulder. Leaning closer Jihoon grabs a hold of Soonyoung’s shoulder and he doesn’t notice how Soonyoung almost shivers at his touch. 

“What the fuck is that?” Jihoon asks as he leans forward and looks at it closer.  _ “ _ _ If you don't know where you are going any road can take you there _ ? Do you seriously have a quote from Alice in Wonderland tattooed on your shoulder? ”

“Don’t judge me!” Soonyoung says and turns back to face Jihoon after he had pulled on his shirt. “I was 16 at the time okay? And I like it anyways…” he mumbles and looks down at his phone again. One of his friends back in Seoul had just uploaded a picture on instagram of his newest tattoo. And Soonyoung always liked tattoos but never really knew what to get. 

“Who is stupid enough to tattoo a 16 year old?” Jihoon mumbles and pulls at the sleeves of his already oversized sweater he’s wearing. 

“Well it was pretty stupid, but I don’t regret it” Soonyoung says with a smile as he stands up from the bed and walks into the kitchen. “Do you know if there are any tattoo studios here in Busan?” 

Jihoon looks over at Soonyoung who is drinking orange juice straight out of the box. “I... Well Wonwoo works at a tattoo and piercing shop.” he says and also stands up from the bed. He grabs his phone from the table. “I think he’s working today”

That’s how Jihoon ends up sitting on a stool beside Soonyoung while talking to Wonwoo who’s sat across the room. Another guy named Hoseok, but wanted to be called Wonho, is tattooing Soonyoung who is sat on the chair without any pants on as Wonho works on his thigh. 

“You’re so stupid Soonyoung” Jihoon says and the blond shoots him a smile before sticking his tongue out at him. 

“You need to live a little Jihoon” Wonho says and lifts the tattoo gun and wipes at Soonyoung’s thigh before flashing him a quick smile and once again goes back to Soonyoung’s thigh. 

“I know how to live. And I’d rather live without any ink inside my body.” Jihoon says and he turns back towards Wonwoo. 

“You know Jisoo?” Wonwoo says and Jihoon nods, he sure remembers the boy who gave him the damned pink hair. “He came in here last week with Seungcheol.”

“What? With Seungcheol?”

“Yeah, surprising right? Well he’s got fucking nipple piercings done. Screamed like a pig” Wonwoo says and takes a sip of his redbull. 

“Wait, you’re telling me Seungcheol came in here and  _ got nipple piercings?” _ Jihoon asks, almost standing up from his seat. Wonwoo nods and grins. 

“He’s gotten so damn different since he met Jisoo and Jeonghan” Wonwoo mumbles and Jihoon slumps in his seat. What Wonwoo said was true. 

Before Seungcheol would spend his weekends with them, playing videogames or writing music together and free time would be spent together to compose and write but Jihoon barely saw him anymore. 

“And we’re done” Wonho’s voice sounds and Jihoon looks over at Soonyoung to see Wonho wiping off his thigh thoroughly before Soonyoung stands up and walks over to the mirror. 

“It’s awesome” Soonyoung says with a smile before turning around and Jihoon strains to not let out a sigh. The new tattoo on Soonyoung’s thigh is a fat unicorn. 

“You’re so stupid” Jihoon mumbles and shook his head. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know where this came from but I felt that SoonHoon was a perfect fit for this. Criticism is greatly appreciated and just yeah. think next chapter will be up pretty soon, not sure how long this will be!


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